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• Getting to know Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

This Friday, September 26, at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago offers CU audiences several sneak peeks of contemporary dance pieces, including Alejandro Cerrudo’s newest work, “Extremely Close” on Friday.

The 28-year-old started his dance career at the prestigious Madrid Conservatory. He spent the next six years touring the dance companies of Europe, searching for a company that he could call home. Then he found Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Originally drawn to the company for its international reputation, Cerrudo knew right away that the growing company would be a great venue to explore his creativity as a dancer. “I could tell that it was a company that wanted to invest in new things, one that would always being exploring further,” he said. “That was very exciting to me.”

Hubbard Street, known for showcasing company members’ work, immediately gave Cerrudo the opportunity to choreograph when he was contracted in 2006. The success of his first piece, “Come True,” gave him the foundation as a choreographer to further investigate his own style in his newest piece, “Extremely Close.”

For the past four weeks, Cerrudo and the six dancers have been busy experimenting in the dance studio up to six hours a day. Yet Cerrudo says that it is still not enough time. “This piece has been a long process of researching movement and experimenting with the structure,” he said. “I’m always revising different sections.” In this number, Cerrudo uses a blend of film music to create a cornucopia of moods, making it one of his most complicated pieces, he said.

Even though Cerrudo has devoted a majority of his time to this dance, he will not be one of the performers.

“I don’t like performing in my own work because I feel that it is too self-indulgent, and it takes away from the piece as a whole,” he said. Cerrudo said that 50 percent of the inspiration for his work comes from the dancers.

“The dancers have a lot of say in the final look of the piece,” he said. “I really appreciate their knowledge and talent.”

In addition to Cerrudo’s piece, HSDC artistic director Jim Vincent will start the program with the premiere of his series called “OneonOne.” Also, the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin brings his talented group to the stage in “Minus 16.” Cerrudo said that he is just as excited to perform in these pieces as he is to debut his own, but he would not divulge any more details.

“You have to see the show!” he said.